their united nations status elevated. what does that mean? does it really do anything for them? basically, it's part of the palestinian effort, going on for decades now, to be an official country. equal in status with israel, and the united states. and anybody else belonging to the u.n. just for some context here, though, the plo has been a permanent observer. that's been their status since 1974. and that has given palestinians the right to speak out and be heard at the assembly. but it doesn't give them a right to vote. richard roth, who covers the u.n. extensively and is our cnn favorite on this topic, is there to really give a little more context as to what they wanted to and what kind of status it would give them and how far up in status it would actually elevate them. richard, tell us what it means. >> okay. first, just to clarify, hamas not really here with the palestinians. the palestinian president abbas is in new york, met with the secretary general last night. yes, this is, as usual with the u.n., words matter. sometimes one letter in a document could be a time bomb. what we have he
